Five Reasons You Should Be Hammock Camping

Hammock camping has been quickly gaining popularity in recent years. Owing its increased success and visibility to updated designs, increased affordability and a few books like Lost on the Appalachian Trail by author and AT/PCT Thru Hiker Kyle Rohrig (highly recommended) who rave about their successes hammock camping on famous long trails. For a lot of people hammock camping is simply something that they have never been introduced to, let alone tried for themselves. But in my personal experience it’s something that you try a few times before realizing you’ll never go back to tents. So here are 5 reasons that you should be hammock camping.

Leave no trace. If you’re the outdoor adventure type you’ve probably read and follow the “leave no trace” principals. Those of us that love the outdoors want to continue loving the outdoors and share than love with others for as long as possible. In a lot of cases people take “leave no trace” as simply packing out what you pack in and picking up trash here and there. But there is a lot more to it than that. Our forest ecosystems are fragile and every plant serves a multitude of functions and purposes that are invaluable to the ecosystem. When we set up tents, the first order of business is usually clearing away weeds, twigs and other undergrowth so that we have a relatively flat, even place to sleep. But on top of further altering the environment the clearing and smashed undergrowth is a spotlight to other hikers that someone slept there recently. Using a hammock, especially with the use of tree straps, completely eliminates this problem because the straps won’t harm the trees and the only thing that the hammock compresses is air. I especially enjoy this because it allows me to camp in areas that just wouldn’t work with a tent due to undergrowth or slope of the ground. It also allows you to remain better hidden from others in the forest or along the trail. Since we all crave that “alone with nature” feeling, staying hidden to other hikers outside of your group is a must. It also keeps you safer, since strangers can’t find you easily.

Hammocks are light weight and don’t take up much room. Tents inevitably come with tent poles, and even the lightest tent poles still take up more room and weigh more than fabric. They’re also rigid and difficult to compact past a certain point. Hammocks on the other hand, are either mostly or all fabric. Even the higher end hammocks like the Clark Jungle Hammocks (pictured above) that come with small poles to eliminate the need for a ridge line are still easy to compact and store. When you’re planning an overnight backpacking trip anywhere space is critical, and the three biggest demands for space in your pack come from shelter, food and warmth (sleeping bag, clothing). These are also staple items that you always need to carry, so anytime you can cut weight or space taken up by these items you’re doing yourself a favor. If you intend to hike ultralight, meaning you base back weight is at or below 20 pounds, a hammock is probably for you. Even the heaviest 4 season hammocks weigh about 2 and a half to 3 and a half pounds and most are substantially lighter than this and if you’re not into cowboy camping or sleeping on the ground under an open tarp, then hammocks are your best friend.

Setup time, especially with the use of tree straps, is a fraction of the time it takes to set up a tent. After the third or fourth time you set up your hammock, when you start to get comfortable with it. The process takes about 3-5 minutes. If you use carabiners and tree straps the time is cut down to less than 2 minutes. Once you’ve been out on a few trips, setting the ropes becomes second nature and it takes even less time. A tent on the other hand takes 5-7 minutes even when you’re practiced and sometimes upwards of 15 minutes when you’re new to wilderness camping. If you’ve ever hiked a 20 mile day in the winter, you know that fighting dusk to get camp set up and a fire going is never fun. You want to have a shelter system that you can set up quickly without cutting corners. The last thing you want to do in the middle of the night after a 15 or 20 mile day is have to get up and fix your tent in the cold darkness because you set it up too quickly and had it fall apart at 2am.

Great sleep. Have you ever slept on a cloud? I have, and so has anyone else that has gone through a blissful night in a hammock. I tent camped for the first 25 years of my life, and I can’t tell you how many times I searched and searched for the perfect, flat, grassy area to set up my tent, just to crawl in at night and be right on top of a hidden root or jagged rock that I didn’t see when I set the tent up. Even if you manage to find that perfect rock and root free spot, you still have 8-10 hours of sleeping on thousands of feet of compacted rock and dirt. My lower back hurts just thinking about it. You never have that problem when you sleep in a hammock. No roots can touch you, not rocks can prod you awake and no unpleasant pressure points to stiffen your joints and dampen your spirits. There is also the added benefit of not being on the ground when the rain comes, because it always does. A properly setup hammock and rain fly combo will keep you tucked away, dry and warm even in the most torrential downpours.

No critters or bugs. One of the biggest turn offs to hammock camping in the past was the bug aspect, and the fear of waking up with a raccoon or possum sitting on your chest wanting to know where the food is at. Fortunately, I recent years the hammock camping professionals have wised up and added integrated bug nets as a standard feature on almost all dedicated camping hammocks. Even if you want to go the budget route you can buy a few yards of noseeum netting and attach it to an ENO hammock with a quick and dirty ridgeline for pennies on the dollar compared to what you pay for a dedicated overnight hammock. Nothing feels as good as laying in your hammock at the end of a long day hiking and seeing the mosquitos on the other end of your bug net, cursing you for outsmarting them.

If you’re still not convinced that hammock camping is the way of the future, find someone who is doing it already (we call ourselves hangmen, we’re everywhere) and ask if you can take their hammock for a spin on your next overnight adventure. They can probably show you some cool knots to use to make the experience a lot less painful too.

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Aaron

I'm a United States Army veteran and an avid hiker and outdoorsman. My goal is to use hiking to help others like it has helped me. I currently live in Nashville, TN, but I hike in every state I can get to. I'm planning a thru hike of the AT in 2019.
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3 thoughts on “Five Reasons You Should Be Hammock Camping”

Tent campers call them “bear burritos” but experienced hangers will tell you that bears are confused by any animal with the intelligence to suspend himself between two trees with thin nylon sheets. Imagine that you’re a bear, snuffling your way through the night woods looking for a meal, and you see a burrito hanging between two trees on a string. “It’s a trap,” you’d say to yourself. “I’m sticking with the tents, they’re always chewy on the inside.”

I went coast to coast on a motorcycle in 1964 using a Korean War surplus jungle hammock complete with netting and rain tent. Nothing new in the new gear. Rumor at the time was that the rain cover could be used by the enemy to quickly tie up several sleeping troops and bayonet them at will. Thus declaring them surplus. Sometimes I put the bike in gear and used it and a signpost as a bivouac. Sleeping on your side is impossible. Snakes and critters are less of a problem than on the ground. Digging around for your gear is harder than in a tent. I’m looking for a lightweight memory foam kit:-) to go with my famous freeze dried water.

This is what I use. Gear location is simple with the interior pockets and rain cover / bug net is integrated. The additional rain fly Velcros to the sides to heavy wind from pushing rain up into the shelter. This probably has a few updates and improvements from your old setup.